More than 3,500 civil guards from all over Spain, according to the Unified Association of the Civil Guard (AUGC), gathered this Saturday in front of the Ministry of the Interior to denounce the "regression" of their labor rights and the "discrimination" they suffer with respect to other police forces. Agents from the Canary Islands, including Lanzarote, have attended this meeting.
According to a statement from the AUGC, the civil guards have demanded before the headquarters of the Interior the resignation of its head, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, for his "contempt" for the body and for not fulfilling his promise to modernize the institution, granting the right to unionize the agents and ending the trials for the military penal codes.
They have also demanded before the ministerial headquarters, social, professional and economic recognition and full compliance with the salary equalization agreement.
The act, which has taken place in a festive atmosphere and to which relatives of the civil guards have joined, has been closed by the secretary of the AUGC, Juan Fernández, who has claimed "dignity and democracy" because the Civil Guard "is not a second-class body."
Fernández has insisted on asking for the resignation of the minister, who has signed the salary equalization agreement "and considers it fulfilled despite the fact that there are important points to be implemented."
The head of the AUGC has recalled that the civil guards have been "months and years with promises and more promises" that are not fulfilled and has insisted on the right to a decent working day and that the same number of annual service hours be homologated between civil guard, national police and autonomous police forces.
